TWENTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Ramon Johnston had two things he wanted to achieve on entering Digicel Rising Stars — he wanted to make the top three so he could use the proceeds to offset the cost of his pursuit for a BSc in Computer Science, and to also gain exposure for his singing talent.

On Sunday night, he was voted off the competition after he didn’t secure enough votes to remain in the competition. Johnston made it to the top five of the talent contest which airs on Television Jamaica.

“My journey on the competition has been a lot of fun. I loved the whole experience, the people, the contestants and everything in general. Thanks to God for this wonderful privilege,” Johnston disclosed in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Sunday night.

Asked what was going through his mind when it was revealed that he was among the two persons with the lowest number of votes, Johnston said: “Well, I laughed to myself and said thy will be done Lord. Most definitely, though, I wanted to be safe and enter the top four but I’m still grateful for the experience.”

He said that his takeaway from the experience was realising his true potential in singing.

“Well, improvement is key, rehearsing and performing is hard work but it makes everything better and the better you get at putting in the work, the closer you get to higher potential. The highlight for me, of course, is the family I gained here. Whole lotta love for everyone,” said Johnston.

Ramon works as a freelance graphic designer. He is from the community of Bonham Spring in Ocho Rios. He is a past student of Munroe College and he also earned a BSc in Custom Processes Freight Forwarding and Immigration at the Caribbean Maritime University.

He hopes to complete his studies in computer science at the University of Technology in St Andrew next year.

The remaining contestants on Digicel Rising Stars are Mozein Sutherland, Shaunette Cameron, Oshene Watson and Robert Ewart.

During Sunday night’s show, each of the top four performed two songs in a bid to secure votes.

Sutherland did an impressive rendition of John Legend’s Preach and Chronixx’s Skanking Sweet, while Robert Ewart wowed the judges with Mariah Carey’s Hero and Adele’s Don’t You Remember.

Watson crashed with her take on Andra Day’s Rise Up but came back better with Tessanne Chin’s Fire.

Cameron failed to impress with her take on Des’ree’s You Gotta Be, but her interpretation of Romain Virgo’s Love Doctor was much better.

The top three will advance to the finals of Digicel Rising Stars in two weeks.